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Saturday, May 15, 2010

Welcome to part 2 of our Let's Dish sharefest :) If this is your first time coming across this then please read this post to familiarize yourself with the process. I really enjoyed last week and can't wait to hear everything ya'll have to offer today. Let's dish!

I'm curious if ya'll have any fun or inventive ways to clean around your house? As far as methods go, I love a trick I picked up from my mom. Our kitchen leads into our back yard. This means that my kitchen floor is always dirty by the end of the day. I have a swiffer wet jet but I don't really like the cleaner that comes with the wet jet! What I do is I take a spray bottle of my favorite floor cleaner and spritz the floor and use the wet jet to mop that up. I don't know about you but I hate a traditional mop. My husband will get the "big mop" out 2 times a month and mop the kitchen but for every day cleaning I love my swiffer!

Having two little ones around has made me, well, just plain scared to have too many conventional cleaners around the house. I still have some things on a very high shelf in the laundry room but for the most part I have decided to start using 'alternative' cleaning agents. Maybe alternative isn't the right word... just different than what most people consider mainstream cleaners. Some of my main cleaning agents are baking soda, vinegar and table salt. I know, salt? Well, come to find out it's a very mild abrasive and it will get grease off of stuff instead of having to use a grease cutting cleaner. As far as the baking soda and vinegar go, I just sprinkile the baking soda all over my toilet, pour vinegar on that and watch my science project go to work. A few scrubs with the toilet wand and voila! Clean as a whistle. You should go here and read all of the things vinegar can do!

When it comes to cleaners I use/buy 7th generation products. I can't tell you how much I love 7th generation! My 2 1/2 year old loves to help me clean and this company has made it so that he can not only 'help' me but that the surfaces I clean are safe for him and his brother. Also, I have asthma and I am especially sensitive to perfume/scents/fumes. Even the scented version of these cleaners do not bother me at all. Thanks to the people at 7th generation we have a giveaway coming up soon - I'm so excited about that! Until then, here's how you can get some super cheap cleaner from target:

Now that's a great price regardless of what you're buying - but especially for some great, non-toxic cleaner! So tell me, how do you clean? What products (natural or not) do you love? Leave a comment and there may, just may, be a surprise giveaway involved :)

8 comments:

I'm REALLY interested in your alternative cleaning methods. I think that deserves a post all on it's own...hint hint!

I'm kinda OCD so I have "daily tasks" that I do in order to help break down the cleaning into manageable pieces. Each day I do certain tasks (that are printed out and posted on the fridge so that Neil can see what needs to be done instead of saying "well I wasn't sure what you wanted me to do").

And I LOVE clorox wipes. They aren't very environmentally friendly, but I love the ease and convenience. Seriously though, help a sista out and give us some guidance on how you use all that salt, vinegar, and baking soda. ;)

I am telling you, you'd get along great with my husband. He's very environmentally friendly. lol

We only use 7th Generation or Method products.

I use my Dyson to vacuum/sweep. I just buy the cheep Target brand swiffer mop pads. I usually mop once a week since our house is mainly tile. I hate that, or maybe because it's light colored tile I hate it. lol

Well it may not be enviromentally friendly (maybe it is?) but for stainless steel pots/pans I love the product called "Barkeepers Friend". It is fantastic to clean my tea stains from my ss pots. It takes a little elbow grease, but it cleans very well.

Our house is all carpet with the exception of the bathroom and kitchen. I usually vacuum on the weekends and sweep the kitchen daily as needed. I try to tidy house and clean the kitchen every night, but any further cleaning is usually done on the weekends. I've started using baby wipes for quick clean up jobs since we started keeping a stash in the kitchen for Abs...I dunno if that's a good idea or not, but they are convenient and we have a ton.

I don't really have any good cleaning tricks. We buy about 1/2 7th gen and 1/2 toxic poison for cleaning. ;o) My plan is to eventually phase out the toxic stuff. Right now, I only use it for bad stains that my all purpose 7th gen stuff doesn't seem to cut through as well.

Oh, and coffee filters or newspaper for cleaning glass...that's pretty well known, but still does a better job than paper or cloth.

I guess I got lucky, because Mikayla has never been one to get into this type of stuff. She does get into the food though. lol

I haven't seen the Orange Clorox wipes in forever. I use the method ones though.

The only thing that isn't Method/7th Gen. is our dish soap/dishwasher soap. That is Cascade or Electrsal (sp) I haven't had to buy any one of those things since last summer. We have 3 full bottles of each left.

Laura - I did not know that about newspaper, do you use it like you would a cloth/paper towel?

A great tip I saw on "how clean is your house" is that you can put mouthwash in a spray bottle to clean baby toys. Whatever it has in it to clean the germs in your mouth will clean the germs on the toys and 'tastes good' and is mouth friendly for baby! This is great since CVS and Walgreens are always having specials on free mouthwash!

Oh yes, I second the newspaper and Windex for cleaning mirrors and glass! It is great - and yes, you use just as you would a cloth. Another cleaner that I like, but can no longer find, is Parsons Sudsy Ammonia. Ammonia is great for all kind of things. I add about a cup (of plain) to my washer and it helps brighten plus if you have ever forgotten and dish clothe and it has that awful smell - well the ammonia helps get rid of it!! And your clothes do not smell like ammonia or anything (and be like Clinton - don't inhale it to closely, it will burn your lungs!) But if you find Parsons SUDSY ammonia, let me know!!